


Five Times Sophie Was Jealous and the One Time She Most Definitely Was Not—The Not Jealous Job

by crayonbreakygal



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, Jealousy, Loyalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 12:24:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18315224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal
Summary: No, she wasn’t jealous.  Sophie Devereaux didn’t have a jealous bone in her body.  Until she was.  Takes place prequel through season four.





	Five Times Sophie Was Jealous and the One Time She Most Definitely Was Not—The Not Jealous Job

**Author's Note:**

> Sophie never acted jealous. Right!?! Ha.

Five Times Sophie Was Jealous and the One Time She Most Definitely Was Not—The Not Jealous Job

Takes place prequel through season four

 

No, she wasn’t jealous.  Sophie Devereaux didn’t have a jealous bone in her body. She’d keep chanting that as she punched the crappy pillow in the even crappier hotel room in the crappiest town in France.  She was only staying at this disgusting place because Nate needed her help. 

Now she had to lie on that bed and listen, yes listen as he cooed to his wife.  He never used that voice with her. His voice was usually filled with anger and sarcasm.  Never soft or sweet.  Of course, she’d never call Nate Ford sweet.  Dammit, why did he have to sound sweet while he was on the phone with that woman?

Nate made it known to her early on that he loved his wife. Sophie had seen a photo of her that Nate kept in his wallet.  She could see why Nate would be faithful to her.  She was gorgeous.  And there was a kid to think about. And Nate practiced some religion that frowned upon not being faithful. 

She’d honor it. Sophie didn’t usually attempt to steal men from their wives.  It just wasn’t in her to do it.  But sometimes, when he spoke to her when he was admonishing her for stealing some painting, that look in his eyes said it all.  He could be hers, if only. If only he wasn’t married.  If only he didn’t have a child. If only his job… if only she wasn’t a thief and he wasn’t a good guy. He was a good guy, she was a grifter and a thief. They would never meet in the middle. 

Dammit, why?

 

If Sophie could growl like Eliot, she would. 

Sophie was jealous. It wasn’t a woman, it was the job. And his drinking. And the fact that he was still a good man. Damn him. Damn him and his principles.  He was turning ever so slowly to her side. Just not fast enough.  He still sat above them, like he was King Midas in a chair of gold, ordering them around like some peasants.  He thought he was better than them.

At least when he was chasing and she was running, she knew exactly what their roles entailed.  Now she didn’t.  She was Sophie Devereaux, the most talented grifter in the world. Now all she was seemed to be tied to the drunk man lying prostrate on the floor of her office. He’d had too much to drink the night before. Or was it the day before?

She wanted her Nate back. The man who flirted with her. The man who participated in a merry chase across the globe. Now all she got was a mean drunk who needed to take a shower.

Throwing water on him, she marched out of the office in a huff. Behind her, she heard a screech of her name followed by a chuckle from Eliot. Served him right for collapsing in her office instead of his own. This Nate could go to hell.

 

Her Italian accent slipped ever so slightly.  That voice. So sweet and concerned for Nate and his plight.  Never mind that when Sophie finally saw Maggie in the flesh, she was impressed.  She didn’t think the small photo did the woman justice.

Now she was jealous. She hadn’t been all those years ago when Maggie was just a figment of her imagination.  Maggie was the one who stayed at home. Maggie was the one who only had his heart when Sophie wasn’t around. Or so she thought.

That softness in Nate’s voice was back.  It wasn’t the harsh, clipped words he had for her and the others over the last year.  In a way, it was almost boy like, with him stuttering like a dumbass because he was going to blow the con if he didn’t stop talking.

Listening to him praise Maggie, like she was the goddess of art fakes or something made her blood boil.  The fact that he kept calling her his wife just rankled her.

 

Sophie wasn’t jealous of the blonde scientist.  Sophie had pushed Nate her way, although he wasn’t doing anything about it.  She had never seen a man be so awkward around a beautiful woman, herself included.  Was the man daft? She was interested in him. He was an intelligent, good-looking man who wasn’t a drunk control freak right at that moment. Dammit, who was she fooling?  He still was a control freak but at least he wasn’t drinking. Yet.

Why was she making herself miserable by doing something so ridiculous?  She cared about Nate, wanted him to be happy.  He seemed a bit more stable, but was that happy?  She’d catch him on occasion staring at her. He’d look away suddenly, ears turning pink. He knew he was caught.

Sophie would study him too. He thought she was policing his sobriety. Little did he know she just liked looking at him. She’d catch a whiff of his cologne as she passed him by. She would watch as he walked away, grin on his face from a job well done.  She would look over his shoulder at one of his plans, touching it just slightly to see if he would jump.  He knew exactly where she was though, not making a move closer.

So why was she pushing another woman his way? To see if he would take the bait? He didn’t in the end. He was too busy completing the con, using his silly magic tricks to distract himself.

 

She was jealous of Tara. And Parker. And possibly Maggie too, although she’d never hold it against the woman.

Parker had told her about the incident in Kiev.  All of it.  The part where Nate and Tara were ever so close to each other, hands all over in public, mind you.  The fact that Nate dropped everything to go save Maggie from jail. So did Sterling. She also wondered what that meant. 

“And there was a bomb,” Parker shrieked, very excited to tell Sophie the whole story.  “OMG, I got to jump down an elevator shaft. Did I tell you I planned a whole escape for Maggie down to explosives?  I stole the egg right out from underneath them.  Granted Sterling played his drunk guy distraction very well.  I hope he remembers what we did for him.  That Alexander guy threw up in a garbage can. First bomb’s the worst. And Maggie and Nate were making out in the elevator. I guess they thought they were gonna die or something.  Hardison and I played a stupid American and his bimbo girlfriend from Ukraine. Fooled the mark. Well, he wasn’t the mark, but we didn’t know it at the time.  Tara played Nate’s girlfriend. I think she had her fingers in his hair. There might have been purring going on. I couldn’t tell.  He was trying to make Maggie jealous. Hardison found a version of orange soda but it was really gross.”

Sophie’s head swam as she listened to Parker’s play by play, which didn’t seem to have any kind of timeline. Everything was random. She was certain it had all happened, but damn she just couldn’t follow the narrative.

“Wait, what?  Nate and Maggie were making out?”

She bypassed the part where Tara’s hand was in Nate’s hair. Sophie doubted that Nate purred because of this, but she wasn’t there so who knew.

“It was really hot. But there was a bomb. Stupid Nate thought we weren’t going to get them out. Eliot called him out on that. I mean, come on, this is Eliot’s job.  Tara said that Eliot intimidated a man with just a look while she ate the man’s sandwich.”

It all was not making much sense to her other than the fact that Maggie and Nate had an intimate moment that Parker had barged in on as a bomb sat at their feet.

“Parker, Parker. I have to go. I just…”

Parker was still talking when Sophie hung up. Maybe she had made a mistake leaving the way she did.  What if Nate and Maggie got back together? He once loved her. She must have loved him and probably still did. And Tara, that bitch, had her hands all over Nate and he enjoyed it?!

 

Sophie wasn’t jealous at all. All the grifters combined in that room would not make Sophie jealous. They were amateurs.  Meredith might be a grifter and might be the leader of the little group of girls fleecing men out of millions.  But there was one thing that Sophie had on all the others.

Nate was hers.  That loyalty streak had never changed over time. Once he was loyal to you, he never wavered. Sure, it seemed that he was a bit put out by her acting with San Gui.  She was on the grift though. He shouldn’t be jealous. The man may have been charming, but he was oily and definitely not her type. Her type was sitting on the bed, waiting for her to return from her “date”.

Nate really had no idea the sway he held over her.  Was the only thing about their “relationship” that held them together was the physical part? She hoped not.  Something had to change, hopefully for the good. 

He proved in the end that he could be very charming, literally sweeping her off her feet as the saying went.  He was attentive without being too assertive. He paid attention to her mood and what she wanted.  This was indeed a “real date” even though they both were playing parts.  It was only when he took the earbud out and told her that he picked her that sealed the deal.

“So, I’m charming?”

“Hmm,” Sophie replied as Nate held her close.

“Romantic?”

“When you want to be.”

“I can be.”

“You’re just lucky that so is Eliot. He plays the wingman perfectly.”

This was exactly why Nate’s grifting skills needed work. Or maybe it was just with her.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Sophie turned to him in the bed and playfully slapped him.

“One, you were jealous of San Gui and had no right to be. Two, you really can’t be romantic until you are. Three, Eliot ordered those flowers, but you took the credit.”

Instead of letting her rant continue, Nate pulled her down on top of him, hungrily kissing her until she finally came up for air.

“You weren’t jealous of Meredith?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“You know I have dated other people.”

Sophie laughed a little, thinking back to all the times she was jealous of Nate and the kind of woman he attracted.

“I think you still need practice.”

Instead of taking that as an insult, he turned and pinned her to the bed.

“We could go out to dinner? A show? Or we could just stay right here?”

Nate was talking as he skimmed his hands down her sides, catching the edge of her underwear with a finger, dipping inside to rub a spot at her hip bone.

“So, you consider shagging me silly a date?”

“It’s a start,” he replied as his other hand slipped off her bra strap from her shoulder.

“I demand dinner. Afterward. Get a move on. I’m famished.”

She knew they’d end up ordering takeout since he was taking way too long, as he always did.

 


End file.
